Thanksgiving Meal

Tonight was Thanksgiving and dinner was a success!

The menu ended up being:

Turkey made by my mom with the recipe posted the other day

Butternut Squash Soup

Green Beans with Almonds and Lemon

Mashed Potatoes with Sour Cream, Rosemary, and Garlic

Roasted Brussle Sprouts

Fresh Baked Rolls (Cheddar/Dill) and Plain

Cranberry Sauce (which didn't turn out so well - do not recommend using splenda instead of sugar in this case)

Sweet Potatoes Roasted with Orange Juice and Honey

Little Sisters boyfriend made a broccoli, cheese, and rice casserole

And my mom's friend Diana brought a corn soufle

Dessert was:

Brownie, Berry trifle

Whipped Cream Icebox cake

Cream Cheese Brownies

Hope you all have a great holiday!

Pumpkin Trifle

OK, I know, I suck. I forgot to take pictures as I was making it, and even once it was done. But, the nice thing about trifles is that they're easy, always look pretty, and are hard to mess up!

I wanted to make a pumpkin trifle for Ambrose's baptism today, being the season and all. I looked and looked and looked but the only versions I could find online called for gingerbread or gingersnap cookies, and I'm not really a gingerbread kinda girl. So, I decided to take all of the things I love about pumpkin pie and make that in to a trifle. Therefor, here it is, my very own recipe for a pumpkin trifle.

Ingredients

2 packages vanilla pudding - prepared as told on package

1 8 oz can pure pumpkin puree

cool whip or whipped cream (i used 2 containers of cool whip)

1/2 angel food cake (typical store bought size)

pumpkin pie spices

1 package graham crackers

1 cup toasted hazelnuts

To Prepare Ingredients

Prepare pudding as directed on the package
mix pumpkin in to pudding

break angel food cake up in to small pieces (about 1"-2") and sprinkle with pumpkin pie seasoning

Crush graham crackers to crumbs and hazelnuts to small pieces, toss together

Layers

I assembled the trifle in this order - but you can change it to whatever you'd like. I do suggest starting with the cake to build a base, the last layer being the cool whip, and then topping with crumbs and hazelnuts to garnish.

angel food cake

1/2 pumpkin/pudding mixture

1/2 cool whip or whipped cream

3/4 hazelnuts/graham cracker crumbs

1/2 pumpkin/pudding mixture

1/2 cool whip or whipped cream

1/4 sprinkle top with graham cracker crumbs and hazelnuts

Thanksgiving

We are now in the throws of the holiday season. First up, is Thanksgiving!

Being that it's my first year back in Cleveland in a few years, everyone is going to be in town for the holiday. It will be interesting to say the least. The entire family, a boyfriend, a husband, a new baby, and lots and lots of friends. The house will be filled to (or beyond in some instances) capacity.

My mom and I have started planning the menu. It's still under discussion, but so far it's as follows:

• Butternut Squash Soup
• Orange Honey Turkey (also known as Death to Vanessa)
• Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Hazelnuts (thanks Joelle!)
• Fresh baked rolls
• Fresh made butter
• Roasted Brusslesprouts
• Fresh Cranberry Sauce (and the jelly type from the can with lines for my dad)
• Green beans of some sort

So that's the list so far. It will probably change but at least it's a start.

First Recipe - Death to Vanessa Turkey

This recipe is the only recipe my mom ever uses for turkey. Which is just fine with us. It's moist, somewhat sweet, and no oil or butter is needed!!!

1 Turkey or Turkey Breast – what ever size you need for your dinner

1 can frozen orange juice

Water to mix with juice

1 cup honey

Heat oven to 325°F

Place turkey in roasting pan, breast side down (really, breast side down)

Mix honey, can of juice and half a can of water together

Pour over turkey (since you put it in breast side down, you won’t need to baste!!)

Roast turkey until almost done (approx. 160°F )

Flip turkey so breast side is up and continue cooking to 165°F. check for doneness by sticking a meat thermometer in to the deepest part of the meat. Use the table as a guide but make sure to check for temperature!!!!

Let sit for 15 minutes before carving

Filter the drippings to use as or make a gravy

Size of Turkey (lbs.)	Timing (Hours)
8-12	2¾-3
12-14	3-3¾
14-18	3¾-4¼
18-20	4¼-4½
20-24 lbs.	4½-5